49erFX

The 49erFX is a skiff designed by Julian Bethwaite and Mackay Boats in 2012 and adopted as a World Sailing class in 2013^[1] as a counterpart to the 49er, who it shares hulls with, to allow female competition in the skiff class in the Olympics.^[2] Like the 49er, the two crews both work on the trapeze, with the helm making tactical decisions while the crew controls the sail setting and flying the gennaker. The boat was first selected at Olympic level for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.

The 49erFX shares suppliers with the 49er, with Mackay Boats and Ovington Boats of New Zealand and the United Kingdom respectively being the only suppliers.

The hull is constructed from Epoxy GRP and foam sandwich laminate, with carbon fibre reinforcement in high-load areas. It features two solid wings, known as racks, that attach to the sides to enhance the righting moment for the trapezing crew.^[3] The length was set at 4.99 metres to comply with the ISAF requirement for a high-performance Olympic class dinghy of 5 metres. The hull has a fine entry to allow efficient transition between low-speed displacement and high-speed planing modes. Under the International 49er class rules, the minimum hull weight, including all permanent fittings, must not be less than 94.0 kg.^[1]

The sails on the 49erFX are smaller than the 49er sails. The mast is 7.5 meters long to facilitate a 13.8 square meter mainsail. The gennaker is 25.1 meters squared.